It Just Got Real

By Derek Hunter
TownHall.com

News of the death of Antonin Scalia washed across
the political landscape like few things could. Most
of us aspire to cause a ripple in the pond of life;
Scalia was a tidal wave. His service on the Supreme
Court ranks among the most important by an American
in defense of liberty and the Constitution. His
passing also adds a new dimension to the fall
election for which no one, not candidates or the
public, was prepared.

The next president presumably was going to be called
on to fill at least one vacancy on the High Court,
as three members are in their 80s. Scalia’s death at
79 was unexpected and sudden. Deaths of Supreme
Court justices in office are rare, in an election
year even more so. The passing of one so
significant, on a court so divided, with a president
holding an antithetical view of the Constitution is
unprecedented.

The Supreme Court is in a unique place in its
history. The Constitution, the document it is
supposed to use to settle cases, is more of an
afterthought to too many members. Most of their
votes are well known before a case is even argued.

Liberal justices are reliable votes for the
expansion of government and whatever the Democratic
Party side happens to want. They are willing to use
foreign or even made-up law to bolster their cases.
Conservatives generally oppose these measures,
although conservatives, including Scalia, have
crossed to the left and ruled against their personal
ideology when the Constitution demanded it.

We’ve long been a nation at the whim of one man –
Justice Anthony Kennedy – seen as the “swing vote”
between expansion of government power and the
Constitution. That was always folly and nothing like
the Founding Fathers envisioned the court to be.

It’s anti-democratic.

If Barak Obama appoints Justice Scalia’s
replacement, the balance will shift from the
individual and the Constitution to an ever-expanding
government and the progressive agenda in a way that
will complete Obama’s vision to “fundamentally
transform the United States of America.”

Although not perfect, since nothing made by man can
be, the United States is not in need of “fundamental
transformation.” Our system of government was
deliberately set up to make change, particularly on
the federal level, extremely difficult.

The Constitution, as written, is a set of limits on
what the federal government can do. For it to do
more, that “more” must conform with the limited
powers expressly granted in that document. If it
seeks to go beyond that, it must be amended through
an arduous process. This wasn’t by accident.

The Founding Fathers didn’t want a powerful central
government. They’d just rebelled against that. They
wanted the power to rest with the states and
individuals, as unambiguously stated in the 9th and
10th amendments.

To expand government’s reach, the bar was set high –
two-thirds of both houses of Congress and
three-quarters of the states or a Convention
of States. That was deliberate, to ensure it
was, in fact, what the people wanted.
Now there’s no reason to amend the Constitution; you
need only to have five unelected Supreme Court
justices on your side.

Scalia was one of the best, most articulate
defenders against judicial tyranny we’ve ever had.
We aren’t to that point yet, but on many issues –
particularly the Second Amendment and the
unequivocal right of an individual to defend
themselves – we are one vote away from the entirety
of our history being overturned because some people
don’t like it.

Republicans must hold the line against President
Obama replacing Justice Scalia. As we’ve seen since
the news broke, Democrats are terrified at the
prospect of the American people having their voice
heard on the issue of who should possibly tip the
balance of power from the people to the government
through a presidential election.

The president can nominate; the Constitution is
clear on that. But the Senate has no obligation to
act. The Constitution is unambiguous on that as
well.

And it should not.

The court can function one member short; it’s done
so many times before. If the Democrats win in
November and, God forbid, retake the Senate as well,
so be it. As disastrous as that would be, it would
be a reflection of the will of the people. Same goes
for if the Republicans nominate and win with someone
who doesn’t have strong conservative principles.

In addition to this loss, other justices will step
down in the coming years. The court and the nation
will change.

How it changes, and when, should be a choice made by
the American people. The Scalia seat should remain
vacant until the people speak.

No one can replace Scalia, but someone else will
sit in his seat. And the nation he so loved will
continue. Depending on how Senate Republicans act
and how the American people vote, the nation could
be changed as much by his death as it was by his
life. We must be allowed to have our say, and
conservatives must speak loudly and clearly.